RTIC Named 2025 Pacesetter

We are thrilled to announce that RTI/C was honored with the Southern Regional Education Board’s (SREB’s) prestigious 2025 Gene Bottoms Pacesetter Award, presented on July 15, 2025, at SREB’s annual Making Schools Work Conference in New Orleans.

The Gene Bottoms Pacesetter Award recognizes schools that successfully implement SREB’s school improvement goals and frameworks—ensuring students earn credentials and graduate career and college ready.  

Our success reflects transformative leadership and a culture of collaboration. Highlights include:

• Teacher-led Focus Groups: Replacing traditional PLCs, these diverse groups now drive curriculum development and professional learning—including a comprehensive five‑year curriculum plan aligned with industry standards.
  
  

• Innovative Tools: School-wide implementation of workplace simulation timeclock software and the Lab Formative Assessment Tool, which teachers use via tablet or phone to assess hands-on workplace readiness skills in real-time.
  
  

• Collaborative Professional Development: Teachers now design and lead PD sessions, fostering ownership, relevance, and continuous peer growth.
  
  

• Data-Driven Curriculum Improvement: Initiated through participation in Tech Centers That Work and a Curriculum & Instruction Review (CIR), enabling informed, sustained enhancements to written curriculum.
  
  

These initiatives have resulted in increased enrollment, enhanced academic achievement, and greater attainment of Industry Recognized Credentials. Our leadership team’s unwavering support—allocating resources for collaboration time, professional development, and ongoing innovation—has been vital in cultivating this culture of continuous improvement.

As one of just three career and technical schools nationwide honored in 2025, RTI/C stands proudly alongside fellow Pacesetters, including Floyd D. Johnson Technical Center in South Carolina and Troy‑Pike Center for Technology in Alabama.

Thank you to our incredible educators, students, and community partners who made this achievement possible. We remain committed to preparing our students for lifelong success.